A fuel cell may include a solid, liquid, or gel-like electrolyte that separates a catalyzed anode from a catalyzed cathode. The catalyzed anode may support electrochemical oxidation of a fuel, such as hydrogen or methanol, and the catalyzed cathode may support electrochemical reduction of oxygen. As these reactions occur, electric current flows from the cathode to the anode, via an external circuit.
Accordingly, the fuel cell may include two separator plates—a first separator plate disposed in contact with the catalyzed anode, and a second separator plate disposed in contact with the catalyzed cathode. Each separator plate may conduct electric current to or from its respective electrode and may further constrain the flow of electrode gases (reaction products, fuel, or air) along a prescribed flow path. It is generally desired that the separator plates of a fuel cell be resistant to corrosion, particularly within the working fuel cell. However, achieving adequate corrosion resistance for separator plate materials may require effort and experimentation, as some constituents of the fuel cell—notably the electrolyte—may be highly corrosive. For instance, some fuel cells include concentrated phosphoric acid as an electrolyte; some others include a polymer-electrolyte membrane in which phosphoric acid is sorbed.
The process of developing a durable fuel cell may therefore include a materials-testing phase, where candidate separator plate materials are characterized for corrosion resistance in environments comparable to that of a working fuel cell. One such test procedure comprises constructing a prototype fuel cell, complete with catalyzed electrodes and separator plates formed from candidate materials, and conducting long-term durability testing of the prototype. However, the inventors herein have noted that this approach may be time-consuming, labor-intensive, and therefore inapplicable to the rapid screening of novel separator plate materials.